Monday, June 23, 2008

The Color of the Moon

Very short post here:

Just saw "No Country for Old Men"---first off, I thought it was absolutely magnificent, and second---that it was one of the more hopeful and uplifting movies I've seen in a long time. I'm not going to spoil anything----but I actually feel very good about the world after the movie. Which is completely opposite from how most of the others seemed to react---but hey.

Hope all are well,

Jeff

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Lets see how fast this thing can go

Birthday celebration mark 23.1 went fairly well. I'd like to present the following image to you: myself, wandering down across the bridge towards the Kokosing gap trail, supported by two lovely young ladies, intoxicated enough that all I can do was shout (slur) in Latin at the moon.

Now---that's just a snapshot...when you run the tape forward, it becomes a lot less epic. However...that's why we used still photography, rather than video.

Was a thoroughly wonderful birthday, though. Went to a great party with a bunch of the Kitchen Hamlet crew---I was much more of a social butterfly than normal, and a good time was had by all.

Now? I'm sitting in my room, playing mandolin with my back leaned up against a coffin.

What a reminder of mortality. I almost slept in it last night. That would have been a bit too far, though.

The nice thing about being stuck working in the middle of nowhere for ones birthday is that I'll end up celebrating it three or four different times--with families, in Chicago, etc.


Alright---food now.

Hope all are well.

Love and affection,


Jeff

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Might be a coward, I'm afraid of what I might find out---

Kitchen Hamlet is going wonderfully, having a lot of fun. Had a night shoot last night (10 pm-5:30 am), but had today off, so it should balance out. Then, this weekend I take off to go to Cleveland, then to Karen's High School graduation.

I'm currently "growing as a person" right now, which is not always fun, but probably a good idea. I'll let you know if anything sticks. I have a slight inkling that some of it is just the fact that I'm tired, and that I really don't function that well when tired.

Sleep! We'll see what happens in the morning.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The fickle fascination of an everlasting god

Religion is a funny thing.

Sometimes, when I think about the universe, I find it very hard not to stick my fingers in my ears, bury my head under something, and run screaming into the arms of religion. I guess, a very human reaction.

Other times, especially when confronted with the immensity, I can't understand how one can rationally believe. I mean, for instance, the shear longevity of the universe (13 or 15 billion years, I believe) makes the idea that this reality was in some way created for us absurd. Even more so that the most important event in the universe happened 2000 years ago. In a way, its almost a relief---being that small.

Then again, I guess the whole point of religion isn't to rationally believe in anything. Its an irrational belief that helps one get through one's day. That makes perfect sense to me---though I think I'll keep my faith elsewhere.


Which is to say, I'm back in Columbus for the morning, off to Gambier soon. There is a beautiful thunderstorm with lots of lightning outside, and a fascinating article on dark matter and the expanding universe in Monday or Tuesday's science section of the NYT. I recommend checking it out.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

The in thing

Top 5 lists, apparently?

I'm pro-bandwagon!


Top 5 Sci-fi villains (Movies)


5: Hal, "2001, A Space Odyssey"
Never has so much been done with so little.

4:The Velociraptors, "Jurassic Park"
Comes in at #4, just because it kinda borders on not being sci-fi...but so awesome that it has to be on the list.


3: Agent Smith, "The Matrix"
Yeah, sure. Maybe you won't all agree, but I think its a great role, at least in the first one.

2:Lord Vader, "Star Wars IV-VI"
Strictly the black-mask James Earl Jones version.

1:........oh god, I don't know!
I'm so tempted to bump Vader up one, but that's disingenuous. In fact, I kinda feel like I needs to shimmy down the spectrum a bit. I'll do some thinking ob this, get back to you folks.


(6-10 are, by the way....)


10- The intelligent Gremlin, "Gremlins 2"
9-Humanity itself, "12 Monkeys"
8-The Alien, "Alien"
7-T-1000/Skynet, "Terminator 2" (I struggled between Arnie and T-1000)
6- Ra, "Stargate"

Honorable mention: The Borg(ST:TNG), The Operative(Serenity), Gaius Baltar (BSG), Nazis!(Indiana Jones), Marshmallow Puff Man/The Ghost in the Library/Zul (Ghostbusters)

If we were just doing villains...Cunningham from "Rob Roy" is somewhere in the top three.